


they went (for the first time)

by hawrthiacoopri



Category: IT - Stephen King
Genre: F/M, yayayaya
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-20
Updated: 2017-11-20
Packaged: 2019-02-04 21:33:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12779961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hawrthiacoopri/pseuds/hawrthiacoopri
Summary: And so, after those three steps, Beverly hesitantly padded out of her room in her powder blue outfit and modernly styled hair flip, looking more radiant than most people thought possible, even for a gorgeous girl like Bevvie. Elfrida looked up from her book, smiling slightly at her daughter.“Hey, sweetie.”





	they went (for the first time)

The first time Beverly Marsh goes on a date, she takes every single precaution she can think of.

The first step she thought to take is to make sure her father is out that night- but that, of course, is a given. Beverly never did much of anything when her father’s around. 

The second step was to clear it with her mother. Of course, that was not too hard. Bev’s mother cared little about whatever her daughter does, as long as Alvin doesn’t find out. 

The third step was to brush her hair until it gleamed like dimly heated coals in the bottom of a fire, the small blondish filaments in the strands glimmering in the flip curls she set in her hair the night before, and pull on the outfit she herself had sewn from the money she earned babysitting. Her mother had a beaming smile on her face when she saw Beverly sitting by the fire, sewing her circle skirt and bolero, grateful that her girl had finally begun to “woman up”, as she called it. 

An so, after those three steps, Beverly hesitantly padded out of her room in her powder blue outfit and modernly styled hair flip, looking more radiant than most people thought possible, even for a gorgeous girl like Bevvie. Elfrida looked up from her book, smiling slightly at her daughter. 

“Hey, sweetie.” 

“Hey, mom.” She hugged the older woman, kissing her cheek and letting her mother try to straighten any discrepancies Bev herself had missed. “So, I put the lasagna in the fridge, and it’s good cold, but the neighbors have a microwave so they’ll let you borrow it if you want, momma-” 

Elfrida rolled her eyes, rubbing Beverly’s shoulders. “I know, I know, Bevvie. Jeez louise, don’t you trust your old woman? I can take care of myself, sweetie.” 

Beverly shifted. “I know, it’s just-” She was interrupted by a knock at the door, and she scrambled to get to it. Opening the creaky screen thing she’d learned to call her front entrance, she beamed up at the third redhead to enter the cramped apartment. “Hello, Bill!” 

The boy smiled back, handing her a small book he’d been carrying that she took immediately and with thanks. “H-hello, Bevvie.” The mother hovering near them tensed at the sound of a man using that name on her daughter, but seeing how earnest and truthful the boy looked, and how happy Beverly’s expression was, she relaxed. This boy was no Alvin Marsh, nothing to be worried about. He looked almost soft, but there was something about his features, something that told of wiseness beyond his years and a set to his eyes that spoke volumes, as well as the small cut on his upper lip that had scarred over and already begun to disappear. Must’ve been a childhood accident, she thought, before starting into the present and seeing the two teenagers staring at her. 

“Okay, anyways, so mom, we’re gonna head out, is that okay?” 

Elfrida cleared her throat. “Uh… yeah. That’s okay. Have fun, sweetie!” She hugged Beverly one last time, holding the door open for the couple, before collapsing in her chair with a sigh. Oh, but what was her Beverly getting up to now?

Outside, the two teenagers sat pretty in the front of Bill’s father’s borrowed car. Beverly looked out the window pensively, avoiding eye contact with Bill, who stole a kiss on her cheek before started the car.

“Aw, huh-heck, Bev,” he started. “W-w-we’re, like, buh-best friends, let’s stop being so awkward.”

“It’s only awkward if you make it awkward, Billy. So stop it.” She grinned up at the boy, letting him rest his free hand over hers, even though her mind was full of worries about him driving one handed at this time on a summer night. They’d crash, she was sure they would, because Beverly Marsh got the shortest end of the stick in every game, every situation, every pair. She was sure to crash.

After all, isn’t something like this too good to be true? Isn’t sitting in a car with Bill Denbrough, Mister Congeniality, driving next to her in his slacks and shirt and shiny shoes looking just as handsome as ever. Girls like Bev weren’t meant to have guys like Bill, guys who  
(piss rosewater)  
drive fancier cars and can afford new suits each dance but don’t buy them, pay for everyone’s food at the diner, wear aftershave from somewhere other than a discount department store window and have shiny white teeth. Beverly was just a girl, a poor little girl whose father beat her because she wasn’t good enough, smart enough, quick enough to get away, whose nail polish was always uneven and chipped and slightly offshade. Did Bill know that? Did he realize how good he could get? She felt tempted to ask.

But she said nothing of the sort, and stayed sitting perfectly still as she looked sideways at Bill. She pressed her thumb onto a bruise in her arm and felt the dull throb. She was still here. 

Bill cleared his throat. “S-so, what p-picture do you want to see?”

She shrugged. “Dunno. What’s on, Big Bill?” She grinned at him, her retainer showing and gleaming slightly in the dying light. Despite the bar of metal, Bill couldn’t help but feel as if she could move the sky with her smile, and the urge to kiss her was back, this time stronger than ever.

“Uh, I th-think that a horror duh-double feature is on, is th-thuh-that okay?” Bill worried his lip, stealing a glance at his date- even the word sounded wonderful, date- already imagining the way Beverly might curl up into him, might want to hold hands so she wouldn’t get scared- but that wasn’t Beverly. The scared, skittish little girl in Bill’s mind wasn’t Beverly, who was strong and proud and didn’t need anyone else to hold her hand through things, and especially a man. Maybe she’d want to giggle with him about the campy effects, pull him in close and point out how you can see the dead bodies breathing in the back of the scene. Maybe she’d make fun of him for his reactions to the gore and smile affectionately at him. But she most DEFINITELY wouldn’t be scared.

That wasn’t Beverly Marsh.

“Sure, sounds good.”

The two rode in a comfortable lull of quiet banter about their friends and their lives and their school, spaced with lengthy silences where Bill turned the radio up a tad and tapped his feet, because after all, Bev and Bill are friends, but that didn’t stop them from having the awkward, first-date aura teenagers have. 

And so it was. The movies were fun and light-hearted in a fifties horror way, and Beverly on several occasions snorted in laughter at the ridiculousness that were I Was a Teenage Werewolf and House of Wax. Bill thought it was all adorable, with her nose scrunched up and her eyes crinkled, although he’d never tell her unless he wanted a black eye.

Halfway through the second movie, though, Beverly made eye contact with him and mouthed, ‘wanna leave?’

Bill sat up in his chair, rubbing at his eyes and looking at Beverly, who was already putting her seat rest up and leaning across the seat to rest her head against his chest. He shook his head, stretching his arm around her tentatively before she smiled up at him affirmatively and he dropped his arm onto the line of her side. She turned back to the screen and kept watching, breathing in time to Bill’s heart rate as it slowed. 

As soon as the movie ended, Beverly was on her feet, large popcorn in her arm resting on her hip as she pulled the sleepy Bill up. 

“Get up, sleepyhead!” She said, quite loudly, in his ear. “You fell asleep so many times.”

Bill got up, rubbing his eyes with the back of the hand Beverly was holding, before she began walking away and slapping his jaw with the palm of their hands absently as they moved along. 

“S-sorry. Hey, you g-g-gonna throw thuh-hat away?” He gestured to the popcorn.

Beverly looked up at him with a furrowed brow, Holding the popcorn closer to her side as they went out onto the street. “No.”

Bill half smirked, half raised an eyebrow. “Ah-and why’s th-that?”

“Cause it’s free food.” Beverly was mumbling the sentence in shame as she walked on. “I can throw it away, if you want, it’s just…”

Bill’s eyes widened. “Oh.” His smirk was gone. Beverly was saving the popcorn because… OH. How could he have been so stupid? “Bev, I’m suh-suh-s-sorr-”

“You’re sorry.” She sighed a little, her broad shoulders heaving up and down once slowly, before lifting her head up with a twinkle in her eye. “You should be sorry, Denbrough, I’m gonna get you!”

“O-oh no!” Bill laughed, feigning surprise and dodging her hands. “Just eat your p-p-popcorn, little g-girl, and leave m-me alone.”

She popped some of the snack into her mouth, eating it before glaring at Bill with her mouth full. “Maybe I WILL,” she said once her mouth was empty. “Want any, by the way?”

“S-sure.” Bill grabbed a handful, throwing them into the air one at a time and arcing them into his mouth as they walked down the street. “Suh-so, where’re w-we going?”

“The park.”

Bill tensed, remembering what had been happening his whole life whenever he went anywhere normal in the dark. “N-no we’re n-not.” He gently wheeled her around until she shook him off defiantly.

“Why? I want to see the fountain at night!” Beverly stared him down, her look comical as she had to tilt her eyes slightly up to meet his and she was holding a large box at least as wide as her hips against her torso, her legs slightly widely set apart. 

“N-no. S-sorry, Bevvie, I duh-don’t mean to c-control you, buh-but no.”

“But WHY?” Now it was Bill’s turn to duck his head. Beverly grinned. “Oh my God. Are you scared of the dark?”

Bill Denbrough, the six foot tall cross country team captain, looked away embarrassedly. “I duh-dunno. Maybe,” he mumbled, walking faster as Bev followed him closely, eventually grabbing his hand and pulling him back to her with gales of laughter. 

“Oh my God, are you kidding me?” Beverly snorted as Bill’s cheeks turned pink. “Bill Denbrough’s scared of the dark?”

“Shuh-shut up.” Bill grumbled some more until he noticed Bev shivering. “You c-cold, Bevvie?”

“Yeah.”

“You wuh-want my coat?”

“Sure.”

Bill smirked yet again. “Too bad.”

“You’re so difficult, Big Bill, you know that?” Bill smirked at that too, taking the popcorn from her hands and setting it on the trash as they walked past one. He took his jacket off, placing it on Beverly’s shoulders and gently flipping her hair out of the collar, before slipping his hand into Beverly’s and putting their heads closer together. Beverly could smell his aftershave on the coat and on Bill himself, evergreeney and touched with juniper, and she shivered at the sentiment.

“Yuh-you’re not t-t-too easy to pl-pluh-please yourself, Bevvie.” He kissed the side of her mouth after a whispered ask for permission, missing most of her mouth but succeeding in making Bev push back into his lips. “Luh-let’s go g-get you some ruh-real food, huh? A burger instead of puh-p-puh-poh-”

“Popcorn. Got it, Bill.” She kissed him back, pulling him along for what seemed like the umpteenth time that night. “Let’s go.”

And they went.

**Author's Note:**

> im @stenbrough on tumblr and @itshebrew4peace on twitter


End file.
